Thank you to Rich Ellis and Ellis Sotheby's International Realty for generously sponsoring and hosting the benefit for now 8 years! We’re grateful for your unwavering commitment to Arts Education programs for the Museum, the community and public schools.
We’re feeling incredibly grateful for the support at the 8th Annual Benefit for Arts Education on Sunday, October 1, 2023. It was a beautiful afternoon with supporters, arts lovers, and new friends. This year's event location, "Moon River," in Sneden's Landing with its beautiful lawn overlooking the Hudson was a lovely and fitting homage to Edward Hopper's love of nature and the river.
COULDN'T ATTEND? YOu CAN STILL DONATE!
Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center preserves the birthplace and family home of the iconic artist and advances exploration of his legacy in American art and formative Nyack years. This annual Benefit for Arts Education was held at an amazing historic home in a community embedded in the arts since the early 1900s.
This year's Benefit was held at a spectacular 5 bedroom home with a private beach on the Hudson. It was designed by renowned architect Eric Gugler, who received commissions across America and Europe, and was hired by FDR to redesign the Oval Office in the 1930s - the same time he designed Moon River.
(Images of "Moon River" home courtesy of Ellis Sotheby's International Realty.)
(Images of "Moon River" home courtesy of Ellis Sotheby's International Realty.)
We give special thanks to the Estate of Joan W. Konner for hosting this year's Benefit at “Moon River,” once home to sculptor and arts patron Mary Lawrence Tonetti, in an artist community of renown.
Thank you also to our donors and vendors for supporting Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center's art education programs. Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty, The Whitney Museum of American Art, EK100 & Ellsworth Kelly Studio, Valerie Balint, Craig Starr Gallery, Alice Mizrachi, Joey Garreffa, John Henry, Eric Shiner, President of Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn, NY for his talent as Auctioneer; Mimi’s Plate for the delicious Open Bar, hors de'oeuvres, and light fare; John Vitollo, photographer; and Kris Burns, Festoon on Hudson.
Special Guest Speaker
VALERIE BALINT
VALERIE BALINT
Valerie Balint is the Director of Historic Artist’s Homes and Studios (HAHS), a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the author of the Guide to Historic Artists' Homes and Studios (Princeton Architectural Press, June 2020). HAHS is a nation-wide consortium of 61 member sites, that were the homes and working studios of American artists.
Prior to heading HAHS, Ms. Balint served for seventeen years on the curatorial staff at Frederic Church’s Olana in Hudson, New York (also a HAHS site), most recently as Interim Director of Collections and Research. She was co-organizer and co-curator of Olana’s annual exhibitions and accompanying publications. She is a frequent lecturer and writer on preserved artists’ spaces, Frederic Church, the Hudson River School, and American art and social history of the mid-19th and early 20th century. She is co-author of Glories of the Hudson: Frederic Church’s Views from Olana (Cornell Press, 2009).
Her previous work also includes positions at Chesterwood and the Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio, both in the Massachusetts Berkshires (and both HAHS sites). She served as the New York State Coordinator of “Save Outdoor Sculpture,” a program of the Smithsonian American Art Museum to document all public sculpture in the United States. Balint is a longtime advocate for recognizing and valuing the important place artists’ homes and public art hold within the greater context of cultural history in America.
Prior to heading HAHS, Ms. Balint served for seventeen years on the curatorial staff at Frederic Church’s Olana in Hudson, New York (also a HAHS site), most recently as Interim Director of Collections and Research. She was co-organizer and co-curator of Olana’s annual exhibitions and accompanying publications. She is a frequent lecturer and writer on preserved artists’ spaces, Frederic Church, the Hudson River School, and American art and social history of the mid-19th and early 20th century. She is co-author of Glories of the Hudson: Frederic Church’s Views from Olana (Cornell Press, 2009).
Her previous work also includes positions at Chesterwood and the Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio, both in the Massachusetts Berkshires (and both HAHS sites). She served as the New York State Coordinator of “Save Outdoor Sculpture,” a program of the Smithsonian American Art Museum to document all public sculpture in the United States. Balint is a longtime advocate for recognizing and valuing the important place artists’ homes and public art hold within the greater context of cultural history in America.
